Night Of Admiration
by CUtopia
Summary: A unexpected nightly meeting in the library sorts things out between Rolanda and Severus


Entry for the "Care of Magical Creature's Class" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

The Ramora is a silver fish that is native to the Indian Ocean. It is an immensely powerful fish that has the magical ability to anchor ships in place. It is considered a guardian of seafarers. Ramora have been blamed in the muggle world for the deaths of Mark Antony and indirectly, of Caligula.

**Write about a minor character who plays a very large role in the life of a more well-known character.** Your focus should be on the minor character and whatever relationship they have with the other character. No word minimum, and your maximum is 3000.

Entry for the "Scavenger Hunt" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

23. Library

Entry for the "Hogwarts Fair 2014" - Niffler Lucky Dig

Thank you to Liza for some beta-reading! :)

I hope you all enjoy this, leave me your opinion in the form of reviews :)

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><p>Night had fallen over Hogwarts, every window was dark and all inhabitants of the castle were asleep... except for one person. There was light in the library, emerging from a few candles which illuminated a young woman sitting at one of the large tables.<p>

Rolanda Hooch sighed as she turned the next page of her book and grabbed another chocolate frog from the huge box lying on the table next to her wand, then she shifted to adjust her sitting position on the chair, placing her feet on the table. She enjoyed these silent evenings when she could stroll around between the shelves without any students or Madam Pince interrupting her.

"If Irma could see you right now, she would kill you on the spot."

Rolanda's arm shot forwards and she grabbed her wand in alert, ready to cast a spell at the person intruding her small bubble, but she stopped as she recognised the dark figure of Severus Snape. She put down her wand again, not caring about him seeing her like this – wearing her oldest sweat pants and a top, without any make-up and her hair in a messy ponytail.

"And I will kill you if you tell her, cauldron boy," she said, continuing to read on the page while Severus sat down opposite to her, eyeing the book in her hand, unimpressed by her threat.

"I did not know that you were someone who reads books without pictures."

She did not even bother to roll her eyes over his affront, she was used to it and he had definitely presented her better ones than this.

If she thought about it their twisted relationship, friendship or whatever one wanted to call it, they fought a lot. Playful banter, sarcastic commentaries... As odd as it sounded, it made her feel special that she was the only member of the staff who he had his banters with – and she knew that he knew that they both enjoyed it.

"What are you doing here anyway, Severus?" She asked after letting her gaze lift for a second, seeing him still sitting there, eating her chocolate frogs. "Except for caring for your flabs by eating my chocolate."

"I could ask you the same."

"This is not helping the conversation, Severus."

"Who said that I came here to talk to you?" Severus answered and Rolanda thought for a second that she had seen a crooked grin flashing over his features as she hit his fingers to stop him from taking another one of her chocolate frogs.

"You really do annoy me sometimes. What is it then? Did you wanted to see me in my pyjamas so you could mock me tomorrow because you are running out of ideas? Pathetic."

Could one call this a friendship? Had anyone ever claimed to be a friend of Severus since his teenage years? Rolanda knew that he had been close with Lily Evans and that something must have happened back then, something that had made him even more distant and bitter. But she knew better than to ask him about it, to ask him if they were friends. She never knew how he defined this thing they had, therefore she was curious.

It was not that easy for her to sort out her own feelings for him, they were pretty mixed up because she never knew what he was up to.

"You seriously think that I would come here in the middle of the night only to look at you? That is pathetic, Rolanda. I was doing my duty of patrolling through the corridors when I saw light in here. You could have been a student sneaking around," Severus answered and Rolanda registered how he mustered her, obviously believing that she would not see it through his façade – he should know better that he was not tricking her that easily. She knew him very well by now, he rarely managed to surprise her any more – but the pleasant shiver that ran down her spine was something new to her.

"How responsibly of you. And now stop staring, yes, I am wearing a bra and spare me your disappointed pout," Rolanda shot back, pulling the cardigan she had brought around her shoulders, even though she did not feel exactly uncomfortable under his gaze. She had caught him off guard and she grinned as he glared at her with wide eyes, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he snarled:"It would not be worth the look."

"Ditto."

What the hell was going on here? Rolanda wondered why he was not leaving, instead he went over to some wicked borderline flirting? This man was confusing her, just as her body and her feelings did.

"I think I will go to bed now, I am getting incredibly tired," she said after a moment of silence in which they had just stared at each other, having a silent fight. She got up and flicked her wand to make the book fly back into its shelf, then she took her chocolate frogs and turned to leave, but she stopped as Severus said something:"I was not staring. I was admiring."

Rolanda turned on her heel, feeling her cheeks turn warm and red. His voice sounded so different, so soft and totally different from its usual sarcastic snarl, and she asked herself if she had imagined him saying it.

"What? What did you say?" She asked, speaking to his back as he was still sitting at the table, staring into the flame of the candle she had left on.

"You heard me very well. Go, tell everyone that Severus Snape allowed himself to show some humanity because he admired the sight of a wonderful woman."

He sounded bitter and dark again and Rolanda gulped, her heart pounding like crazy. Her voice was shaking just as her hands as she whispered:"What do you think when you see her?"

His voice was even lower, barely audible in the half-darkness of the library as he answered:"That she is the only one who makes me feel like I am valued, like I am alive. Her smile is to die for because it takes my pain away, but I doubt that she could ever like me the way I like her. My foolish heart is falling for the same trick again – a woman who does not return my feelings."

Rolanda gulped and took a tentative step forward, trying to sound as normal as she could:"M-Maybe you confused her... You never talked to her about your feelings, how can you be sure about her thoughts toward you then?"

He stood up, his dark eyes lingering over her face while he calmly asked:"And what do you think should I do to sort things out with her?"

"Be honest with her," Rolanda said, looking up to meet his gaze and hoped that she had not done anything to make him pull back with the thought that she wanted to trick him into something. He was trying hard to prevent himself from being hurt again and she could understand it – she had experienced something similar a few years ago.

"Maybe she once had her heart broken too. And maybe you should kiss her."

He studied her face for a moment, looking nearly suspicious before he stepped closer, letting his fingertips tentatively touch her cheek and she smiled. Her lids fell shut as his warm lips softly brushed over hers, causing a warm, comfortable feeling to spread through her and as he kissed her a little bit more certain she felt every nerve end come alive and finally she was sure about their relationship, about everything.


End file.
